Tack handling mechanism



May 14, 1946; c. A. NEWHALL I TACK HANDLING MECHANISM 0 Filed Sept. 23,1944

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor Carl A New/m 0 4 AV/ 2 y 4 g a y T w W m May 14, 1946. ,c. A. NEWHALL I TACK, HANDLING MEGHANiSM Filed Sept. 23, 1944 2 She ets-She et 2 Inventor Carl A. jvewhal! is Attorney T Patented May 14, 1946 TACK HANDLING MECHANISM Carl A. Newhall, Peabody, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application September 23, 1944, Serial No. 555,437

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in tack handling mechanisms and is illustrated as embodied in a tack handling mechanism of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,722,287, granted July 30, 1929, on an application filed in the name of George Goddu et al. It is understood that the invention is not limited in its utility to the type of mechanism shown in said patent.

Tack handling mechanisms of the aboveidentified type are usually provided with one or several raceways having tack alining and guiding. channels. It is an object of the invention to prevent the clogging of the raceway channels by the tacks during their downward passage therein, thus insuring an uninterrupted supply of tacks from the raceway.

In accordance with one feature of the invention the reciprocating tack separator, commonly provided in the mechanism of the above mentioned type for separating the lowermost tacks in the raceway to deliver the separated tacks to tack supplying tubes, is provided with a knocker which, during the reciprocation of the separator, engages the raceway to jar it, with the result that any tacks that may have become lodged in the raceway channels will be freed to move properly down the channels. into position to be picked up by the separator. The separator is actuated by a crank operated link and lever mechanism to separate the lowermost tacks in the raceway. After completion of a separating movement the link and lever mechanism is disengaged from the separator whereupon a spring which has become loaded during and as a result of the separating movement of the separator acts to return the separator into initial position. This initial position is determined by a knocker plate secured to the separator and arranged to strike against the raceway on return movement of the separator into initial position.

These and other features of the invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of tack handling mechanism in which the present invention is embodied, showing the raceway, the separator and actuating mechanism associated therewith;

Fig. 2 is a left-hand side elevation of the tack handling mechanism including the separator actuating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is an angular view of the separator actuating mechanism; and

. Fig. 4 is a section through the separator plate and raceway jarring mechanism associated therewith.

The illustrated tack handling mechanism has a frame l (Fig. 2) which is adapted to be secured to the, frame of a machine using tacks supplied by the illustrated mechanism. The mechanism has a tack pot indicated at l2 in which the tacks are loosely gathered in a mass and from which the tacks are thrown upon the upper end of a raceway indicated at [4.

The raceway I4, as is common in mechanisms of the illustrated type, comprises-a main block Iii (Fig. 1) provided with lateral, spaced plates iii to form channels 20 and 22. The channels are inclined and the tacks are held suspended therein by their heads and are caused to slide down the channels to be picked up at the lower ends of the channels.= Moreover, the raceway has a throat block 24 (Fig. 2) secured to its front end, the block being provided with tack conduits (not shown) communicating with tack tubes 26 which conduct the separated tacks to the operating instrumentalities of the machine with which the illustrated mechanism is associated Secured on top of the throat block 24 is a throat plate 28 provided with the usual tack guiding passages. The throat block 24 is held in place by a latch 30 (Fig. 1) pivotally secured at 34 to the block and engaging a groove provided in the front end of a pin 32 extending through the block 24 and secured to the main block N5 of the raceway. The raceway is provided with a cover 36 secured in place by a screw bolt 38. As usual, the front end of the cover 36 is a separate piece and is hinged to the cover 36 so that it may be swung up to expose the lower ends of the tack guiding channels 20 and 22.

To separate the lowermost tacks from the remainder of the tacks in the channels 20 and 22 of the raceway, there is provided a curved separator plate 40 (Fig. l) movable in a recessed portion of the throat block 24' between that block and the throat plate 28. The separator plate 40 is moved from an initial position across the lower ends of the channels 20, 22 of the raceway and back again into initial position. To pick up the lowermost tacks in the raceway and to deliver them to the tubes 25 the separator plate 40 is provided with inclined slots 42 communicating with holes 44 and forming at their front ends points 46. During the separating movement of the plate 40 the points 46 move behind the shanks of the lowermost tacks in the channels 20, 22 and separate them from the raceway, the tacks entering the slots 42 and finally passing to the holes 44 which, after the separator 40 has reached the end of its separating movement, are in vertical alinement with the above mentioned tack passages in the throat block 24 and the tack tubes 26 communicating therewith.

The separator plate 40 is carried by a bell crank lever 41 having two arms 48 and 50 (Fig. 1) to which the opposite ends of the separator plate M] are secured. To this end the two arms 48, 59. are provided with split clamps 52, 54 engaging studs 56, 58 secured to the separator plate 42. The bell crank lever 4'! is mounted for reciprocation on an upright shaft 60 secured in the frame I0. To reciprocate the bell crank lever 47 and thereby the separator plate 46, the bell crank lever is provided with a gear segment 62 which meshes with a gear segment 64 rotatably mounted on a stub shaft 66 secured in the machine frame by a set screw 68. The gear segment 64 has a horizontally extending arm 10 (Fig. 3) and a downwardly extending arm 12 the latter being in the shape of a fork. Between the two arms of the fork I2 is secured a latch block 14 which is adapted to be engaged by a hook 16 provided on a rod '18 which is reciprocated in the direction of its longitudinal axis to rock the gear segment 64 and thereby to reciprocate the bell crank lever 4'1 and the separator 49. The angular movement of the gear segment 64 in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 results in a separating movement of the separator 46 and is limited by the engagement of the horizontally extending arm 10 with an adjustable stop 80.

At a, certain time during one cycle of operation the rod 18 is disengaged from the gear segment 64 by lifting the hook it out of engagement with the latch block 14. This occurs on completion of a separating movement of the separator 40 so that the latter may then be returned to its initial position by a torsion spring 8i (Figs. 1 and 2) secured at one end to the machine frame and at the other end to the bell crank lever M. The rod 78 is disengaged from the gear segment 64 by an angular cam finger 82 which is secured by a screw 84 to the outer end of the horizontally extending arm 10 of the gear segment 64. Upon movement of the gear segment 64 in clockwise direction the cam finger 82 lifts the rod 18 out of engagement with the latch block M, this by reason of the upward movement of the horizontal arm Iii carrying the cam finger 82. As soon as the hook it is out of engagement with the latch block 7 3, the spring 8|, which has been loaded during and as a result of the separating movement of the separator ill, is free to return the separator into initial position.

The mechanism for reciprocating the rod 18 is crank operated. The rod 18 engages two spaced sleeves 9&2, 92 (Figs. 2 and 3) connected together by an arm 94 and carries at its lower end a clamp collar 96 between which and the sleeve 92 a spring 97 is interposed. The sleeve 93 is provided with a bushing engaging a crank pin 98 secured on one end of a shaft E mounted in a fixed bearing I62 and carrying at its other end a lever I84 to which is pivotally connected the upper end of a fork I06 the lower end of which is pivotally mounted on a crank pin H38 secured to a disk H3. The disk is mounted on a shaft I II which is caused to rotate once during one operative cycle of the machine. As will be noted the tack separating movement of the separator 46 is yielding by reason of the fact that the rod 78 is pulled in a downwardly inclined direction through the agency of the spring Q1. Thus if the separator should strike against the shank of a tack and become arrested the machine parts are not apt to be broken since in that case the spring 91 will yield sufficiently to take up the movement of the sleeve 92.

As illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings there is secured to the right-hand end of the separator 40 by the stud 58 a knocker plate I I2 which, when the separator 49 is returned to initial position by the spring 8| after the completion of a separating movement and after the hook 16 has been lifted from the latch block 14, strikes with considerable force against the raceway, more specifically against the side edge face of the throat plate 28, thereby jarring the raceway and freeing any tacks in the channels 20, 22 which may have become lodged therein. Thus the initial position of the separator plate 40 is determined by the knocker plate H2. In this initial position the separator plate 40 is so located with relation to the lower ends of the channels 20, 22 of the raceway that landings H4 (Fig. 1) provided at the outer ends of the slots 42 are opposite the lower ends of the channels 20, 22. When the separator 40 and the gear segment 64 are returned into their initial positions the rod 78 is dropped with the result that the hook 16 once more is caused to engage the latch block 74.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A tack handling mechanism having, in combination, an inclined raceway for the tacks, reciprocating tack separating means movable across the lower end of the raceway to separate the lowermost tacks from the tacks in the raceway, and means carried by said separating means and arranged to engage the raceway on reciprocation of the separating means so as to jar the raceway and to determine the initial position of the separating means.

2. A tack handling mechanism having, in combination, an inclined raceway for the tacks, tack separating means movable across the lower end of the raceway to separate the lowermost tacks from the tacks in the raceway, means for yield ingly moving said separating means to cause a separation of the lowermost tacks in the raceway, spring means for returning said separating means into initial position, and means carried by the separating means and arranged to engage the raceway on return movement of the separating means so as to jar the raceway and to determine the initial position of the separating means.

3. A tack handling mechanism having, in com bination, an inclined raceway for the tacks, tack separating means movable across the lower end of the raceway to separate the lowermost tacks from the tacks in the raceway, crank operated means for moving said separating means to cause the separation of the lowermost tacks in the raceway, spring means loaded during the tack separating movement of said separating means and arranged after the completion of the separating movement of said separating means to return the separating means into initial position, and a knocker secured to the separating means and arranged to engage the raceway on return movement of the separating means so as to jar the raceway.

4. A tack handling mechanism having, in combination, an inclined raceway for the tacks, tack separating means movable across the lower end of the raceway to separate the lowermost tacks from the tacks in the raceway, means for yieldingly actuating said separating means to cause the separation of the lowermost tacks in the raceway, means for disconnecting said actuating means from the separating means upon completion of a separating movement, means for returning the separating means into initial position, and means carried by the separating means and arranged to engage the raceway on return movement of the separating means to jar the raceway.

. CARL A. NEWHALL. 

